What do you think?
Rate this book
The Open Secret
Throughout my early life I felt that there was another possibility which, once realised, would transform all and everything. One day that possibility became a reality, and it was simple and ordinary, magnificent and revolutionary. It is the open secret that reveals itself in every part of our lives. But realisation does not emerge through our attempts to change our lives, it comes as a direct rediscovery of who it is that lives. "The Open Secret" is a singular and radical work which speaks of the fundamental liberation that is absolutely beyond effort, path, process or belief.
50 pages, Paperback
Published December 11, 2020
48 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Tony Parsons
20 books18 followersAmerican writer on new age spirituality.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 26, 2021
I had chills as I started reading the Open Secret. I read the first chapter out loud. It resonated as truth and it sounded like poetry. I loved it so much that when I finished reading it, a few hours later, I began rereading it. This is it. It feels like this is what I've been looking for in the hundreds of books I. have read in the last decade. I am so grateful I stumbled on Tony Parsons.
August 30, 2020
Writing a review for this book -- dissecting and analyzing it, would be a disservice to the message of the book itself. I'd only say this: it has a certain quality, similar to Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, that can enable people to be at peace with the present moment just by reading it.
October 23, 2022
How does an aspiring guru go about getting disciples for their various workshops, retreats and live-in teaching?
Why by writing an advertisement disguised as a book of course, a gurutisement if you will. There are even convenient standard recipes that any aspiring guru can pick up by reading the books of other gurus. Here is one variation:
● Sprinkle well known and accepted spiritual beliefs throughout the book. There is zero need to be original, just don't copy text verbatim and make sure to be vague/poetic.
● Humbly say explicitly that enlightenment is nothing special.
● Throughout the whole book imply in countless ways how incredibly special enlightenment and thus you are.
● Mix parts of existing descriptions of spiritual experiences and create your own story out of this. If you have actually had one yourself, you might want to describe it instead. This is of course entirely optional, and if you do, never forget to be vague and to liberally use superlatives and words and phrases such as indescribable, ineffable, "impossible to put into words" etc.
● Make sure to consistently use the tools of pseudoprodundity. Remember, the idea is to advertise deep, invaluable, insights that you supposedly have, not to explain them. For crying out loud, do not explain them if you have any!
● Explain how all other traditions and teachers are confused, bad, useless or frauds. Being humble and subtle here will gently steer your prospective disciples away from other guru's charms, being more aggressive and obvious will endear you to those already disillusioned with other gurus. It's your choice really.
● (Optional) Say that no one, including you, can teach people how to achieve enlightenment. That there is no method. (Don't knock this option! While unintuitive at first, this is a truly brilliant tactic because no one can ever claim you promised them anything, and as it turns out people will still come to you, adore you, praise you, hang on your every word, proclaim your greatness to the world, defend you from any critique, and pay for the privilege! Pure Win!)
There you go aspiring gurus: Get ready. Get set. Go!
-------
Addendum:
Maybe, probably, the sarcasm is not all that helpful.
It would be easy to assume from the above that I consider all gurus to be unscrupulous charlatans intentionally deceiving their followers. While I have little doubt that there are such gurus out there, I believe that the majority of gurus are driven by the same frustrated essential human needs as their disciples and the misconceptions/delusions/ignorance about human nature and human relationships which causes the needs to be frustrated.
Primary among these needs are belonging(intimacy & acceptance), authenticity and safety. When any of these needs are denied us as young it leaves us wounded, traumatized and desperate to satisfy these needs by any means. I believe, from a lot of reading and personal experience, that both gurus and disciples are subconsciously driven, whipped, by the desperate need to satisfy these frustrated needs.
This inexorable emotional force combines with intellectual dissonance to drive both guru and disciples into "adjusting" their perception of the world so that the horrifying inequity of the guru disciple relationship seems much like a loving parent child relationship. And why would we expect them to be able to see the dysfunctional nature of the relationship when most likely they have never experienced a healthy relationship? If they were used to healthy relationships a guru-disciple relationship would not appeal to them either as disciple or guru! A person used to healthy intimate relationships would understand intuitively and intellectually that no true belonging, authenticity or safety can ever be found in a profoundly unequal relationship. Such relationships would repel them, not attract them.
The guru disciple relationship is I belive, by its very nature, a tragic misguided mistake that perpetuates suffering. A mistake that traumatized and desperate people: gurus, disciples and disciples turned gurus, keep making until they hopefully wake up one day to the futility and find another path which through equality and equity enable the mutual vulnerability, and acceptance that is the foundation of authenticity which is the foundation of true belonging, self-acceptance, contentment and peace of mind. Actually, more accurately, all the aspects of being and relationships mentioned in the previous sentence mutually enable and support each other. There is no simple directed cause and effect chain, it is more like a recursive web of causation. Even that metaphor is badly flawed though since it implies a static structure while reality is better understood as a continuous process of change. In short, this is hard to put into words that are not misleading in important ways and I believe acknowledging that difficulty to be important to avoid getting stuck in rigid oversimplified dogma. A classic pitfall of gurus and cults that all of us are susceptible to.
In that vein I need to add that, depending on the specific guru and the situation of the disciple, the guru may well be an improvement upon what the disciple is used to. Perhaps even, in a sense, a required step on their healing and maturation journey. Much of the practices and teachings of many gurus have aspects which are helpful and healing. (However, tragically, they are virtually invariably interwoven with harmful/dysfunctional beliefs, practices, relational dynamics and organisational structures.) Thus, it cannot be assumed that it is invariably a mistake for someone to become a disciples or join a cult-like organisation. It may be a major step up from a far more dysfunctional context they leave behind. Such is the sad state of countless families and organisation in our grossly dysfunctional culture.
Reading the above I realize that summarizing these insights in a review is beyond me, so I'll leave anyone that finds these thoughts intriguing with a few links to books that expands greatly upon them and from which much of my thinking on this originates:
● The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
● Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
● The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
●Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You
●Practical Wisdom: The Right Way To Do the Right Thing
●Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus
●Stripping the Gurus
●Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond
Why by writing an advertisement disguised as a book of course, a gurutisement if you will. There are even convenient standard recipes that any aspiring guru can pick up by reading the books of other gurus. Here is one variation:
● Sprinkle well known and accepted spiritual beliefs throughout the book. There is zero need to be original, just don't copy text verbatim and make sure to be vague/poetic.
● Humbly say explicitly that enlightenment is nothing special.
● Throughout the whole book imply in countless ways how incredibly special enlightenment and thus you are.
● Mix parts of existing descriptions of spiritual experiences and create your own story out of this. If you have actually had one yourself, you might want to describe it instead. This is of course entirely optional, and if you do, never forget to be vague and to liberally use superlatives and words and phrases such as indescribable, ineffable, "impossible to put into words" etc.
● Make sure to consistently use the tools of pseudoprodundity. Remember, the idea is to advertise deep, invaluable, insights that you supposedly have, not to explain them. For crying out loud, do not explain them if you have any!
● Explain how all other traditions and teachers are confused, bad, useless or frauds. Being humble and subtle here will gently steer your prospective disciples away from other guru's charms, being more aggressive and obvious will endear you to those already disillusioned with other gurus. It's your choice really.
● (Optional) Say that no one, including you, can teach people how to achieve enlightenment. That there is no method. (Don't knock this option! While unintuitive at first, this is a truly brilliant tactic because no one can ever claim you promised them anything, and as it turns out people will still come to you, adore you, praise you, hang on your every word, proclaim your greatness to the world, defend you from any critique, and pay for the privilege! Pure Win!)
There you go aspiring gurus: Get ready. Get set. Go!
-------
Addendum:
Maybe, probably, the sarcasm is not all that helpful.
It would be easy to assume from the above that I consider all gurus to be unscrupulous charlatans intentionally deceiving their followers. While I have little doubt that there are such gurus out there, I believe that the majority of gurus are driven by the same frustrated essential human needs as their disciples and the misconceptions/delusions/ignorance about human nature and human relationships which causes the needs to be frustrated.
Primary among these needs are belonging(intimacy & acceptance), authenticity and safety. When any of these needs are denied us as young it leaves us wounded, traumatized and desperate to satisfy these needs by any means. I believe, from a lot of reading and personal experience, that both gurus and disciples are subconsciously driven, whipped, by the desperate need to satisfy these frustrated needs.
This inexorable emotional force combines with intellectual dissonance to drive both guru and disciples into "adjusting" their perception of the world so that the horrifying inequity of the guru disciple relationship seems much like a loving parent child relationship. And why would we expect them to be able to see the dysfunctional nature of the relationship when most likely they have never experienced a healthy relationship? If they were used to healthy relationships a guru-disciple relationship would not appeal to them either as disciple or guru! A person used to healthy intimate relationships would understand intuitively and intellectually that no true belonging, authenticity or safety can ever be found in a profoundly unequal relationship. Such relationships would repel them, not attract them.
The guru disciple relationship is I belive, by its very nature, a tragic misguided mistake that perpetuates suffering. A mistake that traumatized and desperate people: gurus, disciples and disciples turned gurus, keep making until they hopefully wake up one day to the futility and find another path which through equality and equity enable the mutual vulnerability, and acceptance that is the foundation of authenticity which is the foundation of true belonging, self-acceptance, contentment and peace of mind. Actually, more accurately, all the aspects of being and relationships mentioned in the previous sentence mutually enable and support each other. There is no simple directed cause and effect chain, it is more like a recursive web of causation. Even that metaphor is badly flawed though since it implies a static structure while reality is better understood as a continuous process of change. In short, this is hard to put into words that are not misleading in important ways and I believe acknowledging that difficulty to be important to avoid getting stuck in rigid oversimplified dogma. A classic pitfall of gurus and cults that all of us are susceptible to.
In that vein I need to add that, depending on the specific guru and the situation of the disciple, the guru may well be an improvement upon what the disciple is used to. Perhaps even, in a sense, a required step on their healing and maturation journey. Much of the practices and teachings of many gurus have aspects which are helpful and healing. (However, tragically, they are virtually invariably interwoven with harmful/dysfunctional beliefs, practices, relational dynamics and organisational structures.) Thus, it cannot be assumed that it is invariably a mistake for someone to become a disciples or join a cult-like organisation. It may be a major step up from a far more dysfunctional context they leave behind. Such is the sad state of countless families and organisation in our grossly dysfunctional culture.
Reading the above I realize that summarizing these insights in a review is beyond me, so I'll leave anyone that finds these thoughts intriguing with a few links to books that expands greatly upon them and from which much of my thinking on this originates:
● The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
● Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
● The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
●Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You
●Practical Wisdom: The Right Way To Do the Right Thing
●Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus
●Stripping the Gurus
●Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond
May 23, 2018
Apparently when your awaken and see thr0ugh the illusion of self then you still retain your personality. Having seen T0ny Parsons on buddha at the gas pump and read the b0ok presumably he was narrow minded and opinionated before he awakened in the "The Park" pp19. It just isn't true that teachers or a process can't help and there are a number of "teachers" now who have a good track record of helping others awaken to the illusion of self, - Culadasa, Gary Weber and Jeffery Martin amongst others.
However despite this reservation he writes very well about the experience without any dogma or historical religious overtones. Just describing things as he has experienced/ experiences them as clearly as such things can be described.
He mentions unconditional love and stillness pp21, clarity compassion and delight pp22 and a great description of prescence pp23 and following.
Reading this book helps to feel that this is all possible.
However despite this reservation he writes very well about the experience without any dogma or historical religious overtones. Just describing things as he has experienced/ experiences them as clearly as such things can be described.
He mentions unconditional love and stillness pp21, clarity compassion and delight pp22 and a great description of prescence pp23 and following.
Reading this book helps to feel that this is all possible.
May 15, 2024
When I want to detached myself from this world it's this book, this belief (though I'm sure Tony Parson's dislikes referring to it as such) that does the trick. I admire it, I even like it, and it affected me very much at the time of reading. However non duality have this tendency to jump down eachother's throats, correcting language, discrediting eachother with such ambition that it makes me wonder where all this comes from. It couldn't possibly be due to the ideas found within this book. Even Tony Parson's carries with him a certain aggression. He promises much, and then gaslights us into believing that he isn't promising anything. There is nothing to sell, except perhaps this book. But don't worry, he's doing us all a favour, although once again he would probably tell us that he isn't doing anything. It's very easy to tell 'seekers' all sorts of things about what you are or are not doing, it's easy to do something and then say something to the contrary. The very nature of the 'seeker' is to hang onto every word of a teacher, a teacher who says he is not a teacher yet none the less sits in front of an audience like some kind of art school lecturer telling them that there's no wrong or right way to make art, yet displaying a powerful emotional incongruence that makes it seem as if there is no other way than the one so carefully sewn into that lecturers words.
I was told recently that you can actually call Tony Parson's up on his home phone. I looked it up on his website, and there it says next to a lovely picture of him and his wife (very public school):
"The ideas that are expressed under Tony Parsons or The Open Secret communications are a matter of opinion and do not represent any kind of truth or authority, nor do they recommend or offer any kind of personal teaching, prescription, process, method or advice as to why or how any individual should or should not live his/her life. It is apparent therefore that any participant's response or reaction to these communications is entirely and only a product of their own interpretation and their own responsibility."
Ahh yes, our reactions are our own responsibility. Tony does not live in this world so he might as well be invisible, he might as well not even pick up the phone. His words hold no weight. Ofcourse in some sense i agree that our reactions are our own, that others can be mirrors to our internal state, and all that. As I said I liked the idea within this book, it even helped me though not in the way that non dualist's and Tony alike would consider valuable. I understand in some sense the un-understandable, I can acknowledge that I am simply a mind, i have even experienced a few things. Or rather, there have been experienced. I can acknowledge that language is not in any way satisfactory, though I have always known this.
Isn't it funny how non dualists who follow Tony Parson's all call him Tony, as if they know him, when in reality we know so little about his person. What does he do all day? What are his relationships like? I quite like his sprawling garden. He has quite a nice conservatory. Did he get that built or did it come with the house? I'll always remember watching a video of Mr. Parson at some kind of conference answering questions, grinding his teeth, face red, closing in on himself in silence. Then watching his eye brows pop up as if he were awoken by the sounds of the tv in the evening, breath drawn in and released, composure snapping together like one of those toys held together by magnets. It's as if he was dismissing the tension inside of him over and over again, still always reverting back to that redness that seemed to seep into the whites of his eyes. What compells him to go to these things? I imagine Tony Parson's waking up in the morning, having breakfast in his lovely garden, getting in the car, driving all the way to answer the same old questions with the same old answers. I could make all sorts of explanations, I have read all sorts too. It's not that I think he should always be serene like those cult leaders he always jabs at that we all find very funny. Lifting his arms to shoulder height, wiggling his fingers, and sticking out his tongue, before letting his hands carefully fall to his lap, his back straightening like a automatron as he looks around the room with squinted eyes glinting, observing the reaction he has caused. It feels to me like a game, someone mastering his audience, giggling at his control (something he decieves some into believing he does not have) that he can so easily leave. Maybe in some ways the questions he is asked feel as if they're increasingly undermining him, whatever kept that stamina in place slowly wearing away.
But I can only say what I see, and there are quite a few signs that he does truly believe what he's saying. He allows his frustration to show, and why shouldn't he, it makes sense that he would react and that there would always be something reacting even if it is not a person. If anything watching him makes me unafraid of my own reactions, something i have sought for a long time. Though I wonder if he knows that he would so easily be defended and explained by an army of seekers who do not know him but take what he says at face value. I did too, and I don't think this idea is without worth. Either way I don't know him, I can only wonder.
I don't believe there is nothing within him, nothing hidden or denied. I believe that one can experiment on their own mind, I believe that things happen, I believe some of what he says. But to me it delving into this felt like an excuse for my own amorality, my own wanting to escape everything and myself, and even so I remain somewhat amoral and unblinking as i look at things which should move me into action, to look at the injustices of our world and just do something. But I don't, and I doubt I would if I were not a 'me'. Though it is somewhat appealing the idea of taking up a career such as Tony Parson's, I wonder if I would also have such a beautiful garden. I wonder also how Parson's would feel without it, living as I live, with not much.
I was told recently that you can actually call Tony Parson's up on his home phone. I looked it up on his website, and there it says next to a lovely picture of him and his wife (very public school):
"The ideas that are expressed under Tony Parsons or The Open Secret communications are a matter of opinion and do not represent any kind of truth or authority, nor do they recommend or offer any kind of personal teaching, prescription, process, method or advice as to why or how any individual should or should not live his/her life. It is apparent therefore that any participant's response or reaction to these communications is entirely and only a product of their own interpretation and their own responsibility."
Ahh yes, our reactions are our own responsibility. Tony does not live in this world so he might as well be invisible, he might as well not even pick up the phone. His words hold no weight. Ofcourse in some sense i agree that our reactions are our own, that others can be mirrors to our internal state, and all that. As I said I liked the idea within this book, it even helped me though not in the way that non dualist's and Tony alike would consider valuable. I understand in some sense the un-understandable, I can acknowledge that I am simply a mind, i have even experienced a few things. Or rather, there have been experienced. I can acknowledge that language is not in any way satisfactory, though I have always known this.
Isn't it funny how non dualists who follow Tony Parson's all call him Tony, as if they know him, when in reality we know so little about his person. What does he do all day? What are his relationships like? I quite like his sprawling garden. He has quite a nice conservatory. Did he get that built or did it come with the house? I'll always remember watching a video of Mr. Parson at some kind of conference answering questions, grinding his teeth, face red, closing in on himself in silence. Then watching his eye brows pop up as if he were awoken by the sounds of the tv in the evening, breath drawn in and released, composure snapping together like one of those toys held together by magnets. It's as if he was dismissing the tension inside of him over and over again, still always reverting back to that redness that seemed to seep into the whites of his eyes. What compells him to go to these things? I imagine Tony Parson's waking up in the morning, having breakfast in his lovely garden, getting in the car, driving all the way to answer the same old questions with the same old answers. I could make all sorts of explanations, I have read all sorts too. It's not that I think he should always be serene like those cult leaders he always jabs at that we all find very funny. Lifting his arms to shoulder height, wiggling his fingers, and sticking out his tongue, before letting his hands carefully fall to his lap, his back straightening like a automatron as he looks around the room with squinted eyes glinting, observing the reaction he has caused. It feels to me like a game, someone mastering his audience, giggling at his control (something he decieves some into believing he does not have) that he can so easily leave. Maybe in some ways the questions he is asked feel as if they're increasingly undermining him, whatever kept that stamina in place slowly wearing away.
But I can only say what I see, and there are quite a few signs that he does truly believe what he's saying. He allows his frustration to show, and why shouldn't he, it makes sense that he would react and that there would always be something reacting even if it is not a person. If anything watching him makes me unafraid of my own reactions, something i have sought for a long time. Though I wonder if he knows that he would so easily be defended and explained by an army of seekers who do not know him but take what he says at face value. I did too, and I don't think this idea is without worth. Either way I don't know him, I can only wonder.
I don't believe there is nothing within him, nothing hidden or denied. I believe that one can experiment on their own mind, I believe that things happen, I believe some of what he says. But to me it delving into this felt like an excuse for my own amorality, my own wanting to escape everything and myself, and even so I remain somewhat amoral and unblinking as i look at things which should move me into action, to look at the injustices of our world and just do something. But I don't, and I doubt I would if I were not a 'me'. Though it is somewhat appealing the idea of taking up a career such as Tony Parson's, I wonder if I would also have such a beautiful garden. I wonder also how Parson's would feel without it, living as I live, with not much.
March 25, 2024
Just a hard subject to write about but an easy book to read
July 24, 2022
This book simple reveals the truth about life♥️
November 3, 2017
This was a very enjoyable, albeit short read dealing with the concepts of Nonduality. The author, Tony Parsons explains the experiences involved with his awakening. Whereas there wasn't much by way of process or methodology presented, the concepts were driven home in an whole state. Nonduality is a heavy subject and Parsons doesn't hold back on presenting the stage of Oneness as all there really is. He takes a couple cheap jabs at Ram Dass too, worth the smile.
October 5, 2025
Me gusta está filosofía pero el marketing en torno a ésta no me hace pizca de gracia.
El mensaje del libro creo que está bastante claro, pero por alguna extraña razón a la mente le cuesta asimilarlo.
El autor establece, como punto de partida, la negación ontológica de un sujeto individual separado de la experiencia. Esta negación lleva implícita la afirmación de la "presencia" de otro sujeto atemporal no-separado de la realidad experiencial. Por tanto, destruye todo lo demás: no es auto-ayuda, ni auto-observación, ni auto-liberación, ni camino, proceso o progreso espiritual, dado que no hay sujeto separado que pueda hacer algo que devenga en el tiempo; "no hay nadie", como dice él, pero sí hay "algo". Está hablando de otra percepción, que no cambia absolutamente nada en la realidad y que, de hecho, ya está activa de modo subyacente. Esto es algo que o se experimenta o no tiene sentido.
He visto a gente muy perdida con todo esto y precisamente por eso no lo recomiendo; porque puede desembocar en un caos mental tremendo e incluso en conductas altamente negativas (léase a Wayne Liquorman). Quizá en Oriente se entienda de otra manera, no lo sé, pero me da la sensación de que en Occidente la filosofía neo-advaita se está convirtiendo en otra moda new-age más, en la que la gente no hace más que repetir eslóganes vacíos de cosas que no entienden ni mucho menos experimentan.
El mensaje del libro creo que está bastante claro, pero por alguna extraña razón a la mente le cuesta asimilarlo.
El autor establece, como punto de partida, la negación ontológica de un sujeto individual separado de la experiencia. Esta negación lleva implícita la afirmación de la "presencia" de otro sujeto atemporal no-separado de la realidad experiencial. Por tanto, destruye todo lo demás: no es auto-ayuda, ni auto-observación, ni auto-liberación, ni camino, proceso o progreso espiritual, dado que no hay sujeto separado que pueda hacer algo que devenga en el tiempo; "no hay nadie", como dice él, pero sí hay "algo". Está hablando de otra percepción, que no cambia absolutamente nada en la realidad y que, de hecho, ya está activa de modo subyacente. Esto es algo que o se experimenta o no tiene sentido.
He visto a gente muy perdida con todo esto y precisamente por eso no lo recomiendo; porque puede desembocar en un caos mental tremendo e incluso en conductas altamente negativas (léase a Wayne Liquorman). Quizá en Oriente se entienda de otra manera, no lo sé, pero me da la sensación de que en Occidente la filosofía neo-advaita se está convirtiendo en otra moda new-age más, en la que la gente no hace más que repetir eslóganes vacíos de cosas que no entienden ni mucho menos experimentan.
October 10, 2017
O questo è un genio che va oltre, o è uno scoppiato che non c'e' con la testa. Per adesso sono per la seconda. Il libro 'base' è una accozzaglia di parole senza capo ne' coda - forse la traduzione è debole, forse lo è lo scrittore, non saprei.
Il secondo testo, già piu' interessante dato il carattere dialogico, è disarmante per il suo non-sense e per le sue continue contrapposizioni 'quello che è fuori è dentro, quello che è dentro e' fuori'. Neanche fosse il Tao. L'idea poi che tutto è nulla e che in realtà non esiste nessuno mi ispira a dare metaforicamente un calcio nelle balle allo scrittore, per chiedergli come chiama quel dolore che sente. I concetti sono interessanti, trasmessi tuttavia in modo davvero debole.
Il secondo testo, già piu' interessante dato il carattere dialogico, è disarmante per il suo non-sense e per le sue continue contrapposizioni 'quello che è fuori è dentro, quello che è dentro e' fuori'. Neanche fosse il Tao. L'idea poi che tutto è nulla e che in realtà non esiste nessuno mi ispira a dare metaforicamente un calcio nelle balle allo scrittore, per chiedergli come chiama quel dolore che sente. I concetti sono interessanti, trasmessi tuttavia in modo davvero debole.
June 25, 2019
No me ha gustado mucho, repite la misma idea todo el rato: nosotros no decidimos nada, somos el sueño de un Dios. Por no ser, no somos ni el que observa.
Desde luego que hay un porcentaje muy alto en la toma de decisiones, que no nos pertenece y que estamos condicionados. Hay otra parte que parece que decidimos, pero ya lo tenemos decidido de antemano en nuestro subconsciente. Pero hay una muy pequeña parte, que tras un análisis consciente, tomamos una decisión y puede decidir el resto de nuestras vidas :-)
Desde luego que hay un porcentaje muy alto en la toma de decisiones, que no nos pertenece y que estamos condicionados. Hay otra parte que parece que decidimos, pero ya lo tenemos decidido de antemano en nuestro subconsciente. Pero hay una muy pequeña parte, que tras un análisis consciente, tomamos una decisión y puede decidir el resto de nuestras vidas :-)
November 28, 2021
What is, is unknowable boundless beingness. Pure energy. What apparently seems to happen within being, is energy seem to contract, creating a dreamer/seeker or "someone that seems to have lost something and now feels separate from other / World but imagines it can retain what is lost by control through free will and choice and know/have what is lost". Tony beautifully put into words how energy can expand and the dreamer/seeker and sense of individuality completely falls away. Awakening from the dream state but for no one. The open secret all mystics point to
May 29, 2023
Interesting Take
I appreciate his point of view. It's not quite the way I see it, but I agree that we don't have to do or become anything. However, it seems that a practice is useful for realizing Oneness.
I appreciate his point of view. It's not quite the way I see it, but I agree that we don't have to do or become anything. However, it seems that a practice is useful for realizing Oneness.
August 17, 2025
simple and direct
What a wonderfully simple account of the “nature of being”. It was like the the moment when the evaporates from the bathroom mirror and your face appears, almost by magic.
What a wonderfully simple account of the “nature of being”. It was like the the moment when the evaporates from the bathroom mirror and your face appears, almost by magic.
January 1, 2018
La aportación de Tony Parsons a la literatura espiritual es similar a la aportación de los Sex Pistols a la cultura popular.
April 27, 2020
Het is zoals het is 😇
June 8, 2023
Exellent for non-dual thinkers
March 29, 2025
Lovely small book that reads easily and tells you everything you need to know in this small amount of pages 🤍
November 19, 2025
Demasiado similar (pero muchísimo mejor) que La perfecta y brillante quietud, también muy similar a El poder del ahora. Filosofía advaita. Libro muy corto y muy recomendable, para leerse cada año.
September 10, 2022
Just Wonderfull
Tony Parsons always clear simply and enlightened, with this clear message for everyone and noone at the same time ❤️
Tony Parsons always clear simply and enlightened, with this clear message for everyone and noone at the same time ❤️
May 1, 2021
To comment on this books would emphasize my mis-understanding of whatever the heck he is on about.
So I will just lay down some quotes from it that "spoke to me"
For what we really are is beyond the limitation of experience and belief. - Location: 276
Fearing weakness I strive for control, fearing intimacy I strive to be aloof, fearing subservience I strive to be dominant, and if I fear being ordinary I try to be special. - Location: 328
Whilst we continuously employ the remorseless judge to calculate and measure everything we do or are, we imprison ourselves in an existence of struggle, guilt and suffering, only to appease a god that is ourselves projected. - Location: 348
Being is totally without judgement, analysis, wish to reach conclusion or to become. There is no traffic or expectation. There is simply what is . . . and isn’t. - Location: 419
That which the seeker longs for cannot be known as a something and so cannot be described. Putting a word to it turns it into an object and the seeking energy will then inevitably try to find, grasp, attain or become worthy of what it believes is a something that it can possess. - Location: 405
For the open secret is not about our effort to change the way we live. It is about the rediscovery of what it is that lives. - Location: 436
So I will just lay down some quotes from it that "spoke to me"
For what we really are is beyond the limitation of experience and belief. - Location: 276
Fearing weakness I strive for control, fearing intimacy I strive to be aloof, fearing subservience I strive to be dominant, and if I fear being ordinary I try to be special. - Location: 328
Whilst we continuously employ the remorseless judge to calculate and measure everything we do or are, we imprison ourselves in an existence of struggle, guilt and suffering, only to appease a god that is ourselves projected. - Location: 348
Being is totally without judgement, analysis, wish to reach conclusion or to become. There is no traffic or expectation. There is simply what is . . . and isn’t. - Location: 419
That which the seeker longs for cannot be known as a something and so cannot be described. Putting a word to it turns it into an object and the seeking energy will then inevitably try to find, grasp, attain or become worthy of what it believes is a something that it can possess. - Location: 405
For the open secret is not about our effort to change the way we live. It is about the rediscovery of what it is that lives. - Location: 436
March 11, 2013
It's almost impossible to write about non-dualism, since words are in their very nature dualistic.
I read books like this with the hopes of experiencing a shift in perspective deep enough to cause a shift in consciousness.
That did not occur.
I found myself straining to understand and unravel meaning from some of his paragraphs.
It is a very short book—likely the shortest book I’ve ever read at a mere forty-five pages—and that would be fine if the content had been of the caliber required to justify paying the twelve bucks it’s currently going for at Amazon.
I really like Tony Parsons. He’s a great guy with a hilarious laugh, and I think he’s got a lot to offer. I just find the videos of him on YouTube to be a lot more valuable than anything I got out of this book.
I only bought THE OPEN SECRET because Tony Parsons keeps referring to it in his talks. I don’t regret getting the book, but I couldn’t find any secrets in there, “open” or otherwise.
I read books like this with the hopes of experiencing a shift in perspective deep enough to cause a shift in consciousness.
That did not occur.
I found myself straining to understand and unravel meaning from some of his paragraphs.
It is a very short book—likely the shortest book I’ve ever read at a mere forty-five pages—and that would be fine if the content had been of the caliber required to justify paying the twelve bucks it’s currently going for at Amazon.
I really like Tony Parsons. He’s a great guy with a hilarious laugh, and I think he’s got a lot to offer. I just find the videos of him on YouTube to be a lot more valuable than anything I got out of this book.
I only bought THE OPEN SECRET because Tony Parsons keeps referring to it in his talks. I don’t regret getting the book, but I couldn’t find any secrets in there, “open” or otherwise.
March 31, 2014
The Open Secret is a short book about non-duality, as directly experienced by the author. He attempts to explain the inexplicable. Like Parsons says, it's like trying to give someone the taste of a food by giving them the recipe.
There is nothing we can do to experience non-duality. It is beyond effort and time. There is nothing we can do to effect any positivity in our lives for everything apparently positive brings with it its opposite, so every effort we make is neutral.
"Life is not a task. There is absolutely nothing to attain except the realisation that there is absolutely nothing to attain."
Parson's writing is clearly expressed brilliance. I found the first half of this book mind-blowing.
There is nothing we can do to experience non-duality. It is beyond effort and time. There is nothing we can do to effect any positivity in our lives for everything apparently positive brings with it its opposite, so every effort we make is neutral.
"Life is not a task. There is absolutely nothing to attain except the realisation that there is absolutely nothing to attain."
Parson's writing is clearly expressed brilliance. I found the first half of this book mind-blowing.
May 31, 2012
A short but superbly lucid, clear, and direct account of nonduality. No non-sense, no religious or esoteric terms, no complicated philosophizing... Just the heart of the matter. One of the best I've ever seen. I would highly recommend this to all the world's inhabitants.
March 17, 2012
Very simple book with some honest words from Parsons. Nothing new and special, but these few words can be comforting if you are somewhere lost in "spiritual path". :)
January 27, 2017
Food for thought...lots/everything to consider here.
Read
January 2, 2016Brilliant!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews